Creatures of the Night
by Director99
Summary: "Well, there're the hookers that line the sidewalks. Then, of course, you've got pickpockets, thieves, conniving businessmen, beggars, muggers, escaped convicts, the mafia, deranged clowns-be especially wary of those-, Methodists..." New York City is a hell of a lot more sketchy than Tulsa, as Steve Randle is about to find out. One-Shot.


**Author's Note: Hey guys! Random one-shot for y'all. It just kinda hit me. It's a future fic with my OC, but you don't need to read my other stories to get it.**

**Happy reading!**

XXXXX

The last of my regulars had left for the night, leaving the three of us all alone in my bar. Sodapop and Steve were sitting at one end of the bar, talking it up as I finished cleaning off the last of the glasses. I let out a long puff of air.

"Do those guys come in all the time?" Soda called from his seat.

I turned around to face him. I cocked an eyebrow.

"My regulars? Yeah, this place is practically their second home. Those seats they were sittin' in have their names on 'em," I called back. Sodapop and Steve laughed.

"Man, I don't see how you can deal with these booze hounds all hours of the night," Steve sighed.

"How do you put up with me?" I joked. Steve smirked. I sighed again, feeling braindead. I don't think humans are supposed to know what one a.m. looks like. Except those night crawlers that hang around on the streets long after the sun goes down. But I don't think you can consider those people human.

"Well, I'm ready to bounce, boys. 'S'ko!"

I gathered up my visitors, and we headed out the door.

The summer air hit us, the perfect contrast to the musty, dank interior of the bar. The bright lights of the city I had migrated to hit us, lighting up the sky.

"Goddamn," Steve breathed. "I don't think the lights in this city ever turn off."

I laughed.

"Nope. They never do. Good thing too. Gotta watch out for the creepers lurking in the back alleys."

Sodapop and Steve tensed up.

"You serious, man?" Soda asked. "I mean, I've heard that New York City is pretty sketchy..."

"It's even worse than Tulsa! I'm serious, y'all better watch your backs. There ain't any socs, but these folks will do things a hundred times worse than jump ya," I warned them seriously. Steve snorted.

"Like what?" He asked. I scratched one of my sideburns.

"Well, there're the hookers that line the sidewalks. Then, of course, you've got pickpockets, thieves, conniving businessmen, beggars, muggers, escaped convicts, the mafia, deranged clowns-be especially wary of those-, Methodists..." I trailed off. They got the idea.

Steve and Sodapop looked at each other.

"You really think this place is worse than Tulsa?" Soda wondered. I nodded vigorously.

"Y'all don't believe me? Well, I got a story for you!"

I could practically hear Steve roll his eyes.

"Alright," he sighed. "Shoot."

"Okay," I began. "It all started when I was walking home from work, just like any night. It was about this time of night. I was walkin' past this adult bookstore when this woman comes from the alley right beside it. Hell, I think she might've even been a transvestite. She looked kinda man-ish. Anyway, she starts comin' on to me real hard, prolly because I'm one fine specimen," -Steve scoffs here- "and she's all over me! This woman is clearly a whore, and I'm doin' my best to get by her. Well, she doesn't like that one bit, so she pulls out this busted bottle from her purse."

"I ain't ever seen someone pull a busted bottle from their purse, Two-Bit. This is a bunch of bullshit!" Steve exclaimed. I waved him off.

"Don't interrupt, Steve-o. Anywho, she's all pissed off and fiery, and she's trying to attack me and all that good shit. Now, I'm sympathetic to your average prostitute. They're just trying to make some money, right? Well, this woman's goin' apeshit on me, and I figure this lady is psycho, and I wouldn't screw her if she was the last person on earth. Then, she finally goes down low, and shreds my left knee up real nice. Even got a scar from it of ya don't believe me."

I stop and start to pull my pant leg up when Sodapop stops me.

"We don't need to see yer scar, Two-Bit. We believe you," he says, staring daggers at Steve. Steve shrugged.

"We've got whores down in Tulsa. Hell, Tim Shepard got his scar from a tramp," he says.

The three of us have stopped walking. We're standing on the edge of the sidewalk. I look around, trying to figure out where we are. We're right by a Chinese food place and a bookstore. Not that far from home, actually. That gave me an idea.

"You really think Tulsa is more dangerous than New York, Steve?" I asked. Steve shrugged.

"Doesn't seem any worse."

I nodded.

"Alright then. If you think it's no worse than Tulsa, you should be able to handle yourself out here on your own, right?"

Steve started stuttering, but Sodapop, catching on to my idea, smiled.

"I bet yer right, Two-Bit. I bet Steve could take care of himself just fine out here," Sodapop agreed. Steve glared at him.

"I'm warnin' ya Soda..." Steve started, but I grabbed Soda's arm and the two of us high-tailed it out of there.

We ran the four blocks home, not once looking back. The two of us were laughing and breathing hard by the time we got back to my place.

"What's so funny?" I heard Bridget call from the kitchen once we'd entered the house. She walked out into the living room where Soda and I were standing. She was wearing nothing but one of my t-shirts and her glasses. Hot.

"Hey, Bridget!" I greeted. I waked over to her and kissed the top of her head. "You didn't hafta wait up for us." Bridget shrugged.

"I wanted to," she insisted. "Anyway, what's so funny? Why're you guys laughing so much?"

"We just ditched Steve a few blocks back," Soda laughed out. "Said he thought Tulsa was more dangerous than New York."

"Told him that he should try takin' care of himself out there," I added.

Soda and I kept laughing, but Bridget looked unamused.

"You guys aren't serious, are you?" She asked. "Two-Bit, that's so stupid! He's never been up here before, he doesn't know how to get back here!" She scolded.

"Bridget, he'll be fine!" I assured. "It was only about four blocks away from the house when we left 'im. Besides, I'm sure he followed us."

Bridget sighed.

"Okay. Fine. But you two need to wait up for him, understand?"

Soda and I nodded. Bridget went up to bed, and the two of us stayed up watching late night TV.

About an hour passed. It was getting close to three in the morning. It really shouldn't have taken Steve that long to find our house. And I was getting tired; I don't know how much longer Soda and I could wait. I wanted to go to bed.

"Should we go lookin' for him?" Soda asked. I eyed the clock.

"Eh... I guess so," I said. "Lemme go tell Bee."

Soda nodded, and I bounded up the stairs. I opened up the door to our bedroom, and jumped on the bed. If that didn't wake Bridget up, I don't know what would.

"Goddamnit, Two-Bit! What the hell are you doing!?" She grumbled.

"I came up to let ya know that Steve ain't back yet, and Sodapop and I are gonna go look for him," I replied. Bridget stared at me wide-eyed.

"He's not home yet?" She asked slowly. She sounded pretty pissed. I nodded. Bridget sighed.

"Well, you better go find him. Dammit, I told you it wasn't a good idea to leave him like that. I swear, you are so stupid sometimes, Keith Mathews."

I was a bit taken aback by her use of my real name, but I didn't have time to say anything about it because she waved me off. I went back downstairs, just about to head out the door, when the phone rang.

"I bet that's Steve," Soda guessed, pointing at the phone. I nodded, suddenly feeling a lot more tired, and picked up the phone.

"'Lo?" I greeted into the phone.

"Keith Mathews, goddamn you! Do you have any fucking idea where I am!?" Steve screamed into the phone. I held it away from me, chuckling.

"Glad you ain't dead, boy-o. Now, where are ya?" I asked.

"Why in the hell are you laughing? This isn't- aw to hell with it. I'm in a fucking adult bookstore, that's where I am! And it's all your damn fault!"

"My fault? Soda's in it as much as I am." Soda heard me, and flipped me the bird. I waved him off.

"Why're ya in an adult bookstore, Steve?" I asked. God, this was almost too good to be true.

"'Cause it's the only place that would let me use their fucking phone! And there's this person on the other side of the store eyein' me. I think it's a transvestite."

"I told ya there's a lot of weirdos here."

"Shuddup. Also, have you ever been in an adult bookstore? They're weird! They have fluorescent lighting that flickers, and all the books have erotic titles, and weird posters are hung up everywhere."

I sighed. This wasn't helping.

"Okay, Steve. I'm gonna help you now. Listen close. Do you know what street you're on?" I asked.

"Hold on, lemme ask," Steve sighed. I heard him talking to the clerk on the other end before he got back on the phone.

"The guy says on I'm on 78th and West Meridian. You know where that is?"

"Yep. We'll be right there, Steve-o. Don't let that transvestite get to ya."

"Don't worry, I won't," Steve said bitterly.

I hung up the phone.

"C'mon, Soda. Lets go get Steve."

"He's gonna kill us."

"Yep."

XXXXX

When we found Steve, he was standing outside the adult bookstore, and he did not look happy.

"Hey-"

"I'm so fucking pissed at you two," Steve spat.

"Aw c'mon, Steve. We found ya, and we're gonna take you back to Bridget and Two-Bit's place now," Sodapop told him, laughing a bit. Steve, due to Sodapop being, well, Sodapop, smiled a bit back at him.

"Yeah, I guess," he sighed. I looked at Soda.

"Boy, are we lucky, Sodapop. We dodged a bullet, considering this one's temper," I joked, pointing at Steve. Luckily, he just shook his head.

"Yeah, yeah dipshit. Lets get goin', I'm burned out."

Soda and I nodded our agreement. We started walking back towards the house, and about halfway there Sodapop broke the silence.

"So you really saw a transvestite, huh?"

"Yep. And I really pissed off the store clerk for callin' his place weird."

"And I bet he wasn't too pleased about you shouting obscenities into his phone," I added.

"Naw. I mean, I looked at a few of those books while I was waitin' for y'all. They were prolly a hundred times more obscene than anything I could say over the phone."

The three of us laughed. Then Steve got real quiet.

"Why so quiet, Steve?" Soda asked him. Steve twiddled his thumbs.

"Well, um... Just thought I'd let ya know..."

"That I was right? That you can't take care of yourself out in the big city?" I cut him off, smiling. Here it came. Steve gave me a cocky smile.

"No. That that transvestite I saw in the bookstore asked about you."

XXXXX

**A/N: That was fun to write. Hope you guys liked it! The idea just kinda came to me out of nowhere. And I did do my research. New York City was a pretty dangerous place in the seventies, which is when this story takes place. So yeah, all kinds of people were wandering the streets. **

**Thanks again for reading! Reviews always appreciated, as well as constructive criticism!**


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